Tag Archives: heypenny

Black Cab Sessions - a popular web video series that throws indie acts (and a legend or two) in the back of a London taxi cab to play a tune - swung through Nashville late last year to film performances from a handful of prominent local acts.

No word on when and where we'll be able to watch the series, but for now, feast your eyes on the trailer, which includes a good helping of Music City sights and stars - and John C. Reilly, who apparently moonlights as a rock star cabbie.

Restlessly creative Nashville pop/rock group Heypenny has made big strides with bite-size statements over the past few years, releasing a couple of dance floor-friendly rock tunes (jittery, Modest Mouse-meets-Phoenix numbers “Cop Car” and “Parade”) paired with engrossing, shoestring-budget videos.

The attention to visuals extends to their live show, which has included a marching band, robot costumes and life-size coloring book pages — and which, via the fan- and judge-voted Road to Bonnaroo contest, earned Heypenny a spot on the festival’s lineup in 2009.

Saturday, the band goes feature-length for the first time since 2005, celebrating the release of its new album, A Jillion Kicks. The 13-song set successfully blends Heypenny’s indie-rock idiosyncrasies with universal pop appeal, adding a synth-stacked sheen and bombastic low end to those familiar singles and a host of adventurous (but to-the-point) new tunes.

Colorful local pop crew Heypenny will release their new LP, A Jillion Kicks, on February 22, and ahead of the album's release, they're showing off teaser track "Purple Street."

The new track is available as a free download now via the band's official website, heypenny.com. Stream or snag it below.

Several years of work went into the Kicks' completion -- tracking initially began in Nashville and London three years back, but the band chose to scrap those early sessions, ultimately fan-funding another round of studio time via a Kickstarter campaign. The sessions that produced the completed tunes went down in Chattanooga alongside producer/musician Charles Allison, who also worked on Heypenny's debut LP, Use These Spoons.

In between Spoons and Kicks, the band's kept a busy schedule of highly entertaining shows, making use of marching bands, robots, life-sized coloring book pages and other eye-grabbing touches. The creativity's earned Heypenny a healthy cache of supporters -- evidenced by the successful Kickstarter campaign and their success at the Mercy Lounge's Road to Bonnaroo contest, which got them on the bill at the Manchester music and arts fest in 2009.

Heypenny celebrates the new album with a run of road dates and a hometown release show, set for Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Mercy Lounge. Check after the jump for a rundown of announced dates.Continue reading →

It’s a fine time to be an indie-pop fan in Nashville. There’s ample proof in Saturday's well-stocked bill at the Mercy Lounge (1 Cannery Row, 251-3020).

Local fixtures Heypenny remain restlessly creative and ever evolving, and highly melodic newcomers Evan P. Donohue and the Kingston Springs bring in the young blood. Rounding out the lineup are Bowling Green power-poppers Sleeper/Agent and relentless locals The Worsties.

The show starts at 9 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 22), and admission is free.

The band also has some non-holiday music on the way. They've finished up a new album, called A Jillion Kicks, and plan to release it in the spring of 2011. According to the band, "it will include several remakes of your old favorite Heypenny songs as well as a whole slew of new ones."

For those of you who like to plan early: Heypenny also has a hometown album release show planned on February 26 at the Mercy Lounge.

The basic gist, in case you missed it last year: The Road to Bonnaroo stocks the stage at several installments of the Mercy Lounge’s regular 8 off 8th showcase, and after each show, a mix of judge (local bloggers, music journos and the like) and audience votes will send a winner on their way to Manchester in June.

Last year’s Road competition gave Bonnaroo attendees a look at The Features, Heypenny and The Protomen. This year’s contest kicks off at Monday, Feb. 22's, 8 off 8th with the first crew of competitors vying for four Bonnaroo slots.

Topping last year’s artistic achievements might be a tall order for Heypenny in 2010. The Nashville indie-pop troupe broke out in a big way last year, locally and abroad, with an engagingly unique stage show, hyper-ambitious music videos and catchy, dance-demanding rock.

Still, with the band’s knack for new ideas and the promise of new tracks in the coming months, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them reaching new peaks.

If you've caught Nashville indie-pop group Heypenny in concert recently, you already know that the band likes to make their performances stand out from the pack. Between the head-turning (literally) rear-of-house entrance, marching band attire and synced up video presentation, their wasn't a soul in the Mercy Lounge that wasn't bowled over by the band's winning set for the "Road to Bonnaroo" concert competition last May.

It should come as no surprise that the band wishes to make its Saturday night slot at this year's Next Big Nashville festival something extra-special. They're hoping attendees will act as their back-up singers -- and they're hoping there will be about a thousand of them (don't tell the fire marshal).

But the parts they have in mind are a little more complex than the usual "hey, hey, hey" fare a band typically asks of their crowd. The band has put together a video primer in hopes that fans can study up before the show. Behold, above.

Nashville, of course, is teeming with musical talent, but as you might have heard, they don’t all play country.

On the occasion of the launch of new, local talent-championing outdoor music series Live on the Green (it kicks off Thurs., Sept. 3 with Ten Out of Tenn, American Bang and the Toadies -- read about it here), we're nodding at 10 twang-free local acts who pack serious mass appeal.

Quirky local pop crew Heypenny, fresh from their much-talked-about, marching band-costumed set at Bonnaroo, have set an August 10 release date for the CopCar EP, which follows up their debut LP, Use These Spoons. (It's been a minute, here -- that set came out in 2001, which means it'd be about ready to start third grade, or so.)

CopCar comes in advance of another full-length, expected early next year, and bears an impressive pedigree: The three-track collection was helmed in Nashville and London by producer/Sneaker Pimps founder Liam Howe, who counts Marilyn Manson and the Killers among his other clients.

The crafty Nashvillians are making good use of their offbeat creativity for the EP's release, too, issuing the physical CopCar as a coloring book, with hand-illustrated stills from the title track's video (watch it after the jump) included.Continue reading →